hey all, mostly view the v-10 forum but wifes 07 expedition with 42k took a dump while cruising 60mph. said it felt like it went into limp mode then when she pulled over it died. put it in park and no crank. all the warning lights came on the dash when key turned. i get there and notice the PATS warning light is blinking. seemed like the key lost its program? pulled the cables from battery for a few minutes. went to start and it sporadically turned over but no start. hit the fuel reset button, no good. pulled the key out and noticed some lights stayed lit on the dash! figure this is a PCM issue. got it towed to the dealer. he wants both keys so he can reprogram. OK. said he got it started 3 seperate times but it shut down each time. wants to install a starter! for 450! if thats not it then install the PCM which is under warranty.

i questioned that the PCM has about 4 fuses to protect it and he says that its a surge not a fault to ground.

I'm still think its the PATS system.

looking for some input before i OK the starter.

thanks in advance

SUL

cc: electrical forum

 

Starter? HEll no. Why would a starter cause it to shut down? Waste of money on your part.

 

The starter going bad would not cause a shutdown condition. Was it raining when it shut down? What was the final determination of the cause?

 

i'll look up the reciept which shows the codes but paid for a rebuilt starter then warranty covered the pcm.

they basically said if i didnt want the starter replaced then pull the car out of their lot. wasnt happy but it wasnt worth another tow.

 

If the warranty covered the pcm, why would it not cover the starter? I would get Ford involved on this one. Seems the warranty should have covered everything.

 

I had a similar issue, but mine was related to a valve in the transmission. Basically the transmission would overheat which would cause the engine to basically shutdown no matter how much gas you would give it. Then when I got to lower speeds the truck just died and would not start. I first thought it was the battery and tried jumping it with no luck. The only thing that worked was to let is sit overnight. Then the next day it was like nothing ever happended, other than all the lights on the dash were still lit up, thank god, otherwise ford would have never figured it out. Their service departments done know what to do if the computer isnt fuctioning correctly. The valve was not operating correctly, took ford 7 times to fix it correctly, good luck. They tried fixing everything but what was actually wrong, even after I told them exactly what it was doing. Dealerships and ford customer service suck, i had to send ford a letter threatening lemon law to get them to fix it correctly.

 

Did Ford replace the transmission or just repair the stuck valve in the transmission?

 

just the stuck valve, they had already changed out the full valve body twice thinking it was the problem. I tried to get a whole new transmission they said it wasnt damaged any......did i mention there customer service sucks!! Of course they changed out the fluid, I even tried to get them to add a transmission dipstick (which is idiotic that our trucks dont have one).

Good luck getting it resolved. You are out of your basic warranty, but the powertrain carries a 60K warranty I believe.

 

Wow! I didn't know that Ford is now omitting the transmission dipsticks. How are you supposed to check your fluid level?

 

My '02 Explorer also lacks a transmission dipstick. Pretty normal Ford feature.

-- Chuck